The boy woke up suddenly when something kicked him in the leg. He looked around the dark room but couldn't see anything.

After a week of constant walking and sleeping in shelters in horse pastures and abandoned barns, he didn't want to leave the warm and cozy bed, but his sister next to him kicked in her sleep. She always did, but since they lost their mother it had gotten worse.

She kicked him again and he climbed out of bed. He would now love to have his stuffed dog or even a cuddly toy, but he had nothing left. The bag his mother had packed for him was in the car, which had burned.

He sniffed softly as he remembered his sister telling him that her mother would never come back because of this. He couldn't believe she was gone forever. He missed his mother so much.

He got thirsty and went out the door. Curious, he looked into the next room, whose door was open, and saw Penny lying in bed. She was sleeping soundly. He liked her. She was nice to them. He just didn't see Sam anywhere.

He went downstairs quietly because he didn't want to get scolded. His mother always scolded him when he sneaked into the living room at night to watch TV.

He went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. There was no glass anywhere and he couldn't get to the cupboard at the top where he saw them standing through the glass door, so he drank from the bag. His mother had always hated it. Did Penny not like that either?

He wanted to watch some TV until he got tired again and took the juice carton with him.

He stopped in front of the couch when he saw Sam lying on it. He also slept soundly. The boy cocked his head to the side, wondering what Sam had done.

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Sam's POV

I woke up sluggishly. I had this eerie feeling like someone was watching me, which of course was nonsense. I was laying on Penny's couch and I doubted she would sit next to me and stare at me half of the night. I certainly wasn't that interesting to her. Unfortunately. So I stretched extensively when a tired yawn overwhelmed me and blinked briefly. It was enough to scare me to the bone.

"Woah!" I gasped in shock and jumped up to press myself into the back of the sofa when I saw two eyes staring back at me.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized just a moment later that it was the boy and at the same time hoped that I hadn't been loud enough to wake Penny and the girl. But it remained quiet on the upper floor.

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night? You should be sleeping," I asked the boy, confused.

"Can't. Have you misbehaved?" is all he said and I thought feverishly what he meant by that.

"What? Why?"

"Because you sleep on the couch."

"What..." I really couldn't follow his question. "What do you mean? Where else should I sleep?"

"Well, with Penny. Mum always let her last boyfriend sleep on the couch when he misbehaved," he said and then suddenly avoided my gaze.

"Well...I...Penny and I aren't...well, we're just friends, you know?"

"Why? Don't you like her?"

"Yes, of course. But..."

"Not fond enough to cuddle with her?"

"So actually...I..."

"Do you want to kiss her?"

"I would...so..."

"Do you want to have babies with her?"

"Woah, slow down, shorty! All of what you have said always have to want the other one as well. What I want or not only plays half the role."

"OK." He looked down again and I was grateful that he couldn't see how I was most likely turning bright red. I decided to change the subject. I didn't have to ponder my non-existent love life with the boy.

"How long have you two been wandering around?" I asked him quietly.

"We're not hiking. We're running away." At least he looked up again, even if his eyes were full of indignation at my question. Had my question really been that stupid?

"From what?"

"Police and youth welfare office," he answered defiantly and then looked at me in shock, as if he had said something I hadn't already known. "Are you really not going to tell us off to them?"

"No, we won't. Penny promised you that she would look after you until our friend Malcolm found your family. She always keeps her promises and Malcolm keeps his promises too," I replied with a smile. "You said your parents were angels. What happened to your dad?"

"I don't know," he murmured quietly and looked at the floor again.

"Why not?"

"I don't know my dad. He died when I was a baby," he just mumbled, turning the bag of juice in his hands as if he didn't know what else to do with it, while I wondered why he even carried it around with him.

"You said something about an aunt. What do you know about her?"

"She's supposed to live around here somewhere."

"Here in Pontypandy?"

"In Wales."

"Ooookay. What's her name?" He just shrugged his shoulders. "Do you know what your aunt looks like?" He shrugged again. "Haven't you ever seen her?" He shook his head for a change."Well, that's pretty vague what you started with. Do you actually know how big Wales is?"

"Quite large?" He was silent for a moment. "Mum said we should go to the sea. Our aunt will find us, she said."

"Does your aunt even know about you if you've never seen her?" He shrugged again and I sighed in resignation. "You know what? We'll find your aunt." He looked up at me with wide eyes. "But we still need a little help from you. Let's start with your names. What's your name?"

"Niclas, but actually everyone calls me Nicki."

"Okay, Nicki. I'm Sam." I shook his hand and finally a smile appeared on his face when he took it. "Do you have a last name too?" And again he shrugged his shoulders. Oh man!

"I don't know. Julie definitely knows."

"Ah, so your sister's name is Julie?" He clapped his hands over his mouth in shock before tears welled up in his eyes. What happened again?

"She'll be mad because I told you our names."

"Why doesn't she want anyone to know what her name is?" I asked him, genuinely puzzled.

"She says then they'll find out who we are and that we don't have a mom or a dad."

"Look, if we don't find out who your aunt is soon, you're definitely going to end up in the orphanage. Penny's hiding you here as long as she can and I'm helping her, but eventually the authorities will find out you're here and want to get you."

"Why? We don't want to go there."

"I know, Nicki. Unfortunately, no one will ask you about it. Of course, they will also try to find your aunt, but if they don't find her, you will have to stay in the orphanage or go to a foster family to raise you."

"Can't we stay here with you? I like you."

"That would be very nice, Nicki. But since we're not related to you, they won't let you stay here," I told him sadly. "We need more informations, Nicki. Something that will help us find out where do you come from or where do you belong."

"Bristol." That really surprised me.

"And you walked all the way here?" I asked him, amazed. He shook his head again.

"We drove. Mum wanted to visit her sister so she could get to know us and look after us."

"Why should your aunt take care of you?" To make sure the boy didn't reveal anything, he was very talkative. I didn't want to complain. Still, I became increasingly confused by his answers.

"Because Mum had to go to the hospital. Now she doesn't have to." He sniffed softly and wiped his nose with his forearm.

"Why not now? What happened, Nicki?" I asked him regretfully and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. I was sorry to stir things up in him again, but we really needed more informations if we were going to help them before Steele demanded the report I had hidden deep in the drawer this morning.

"We had an accident with the car. Mum couldn't get out, but we did. There was a fire. Mum said we should go to the sea and not talk to an adult until we found our aunt, because otherwise they would put us in a orphanage," he remarked forcefully and looked at me as if to warn me not to even try to put him in one - which I certainly wouldn't do.

"Then what happened?" I asked him instead.

"We ran away because there was blue light over the hill and lots of loud sirens." That was good. We could call the hospitals tomorrow and ask about a woman who was involved in a traffic accident. "But before they got there, there was a loud bang and the whole car was on fire. Julie says Mum's never coming back." His sniffling became even louder and his tears continued to fall as he looked up at me. "Is that true?"

"Well...I don't know, Nicki. Tomorrow we'll try to find out where and what exactly happened in the accident, okay?" I replied quietly and he nodded weakly. How was I supposed to explain to a little boy of about 5 that his older sister was right? It was certainly better to put an end to the questioning for today. The wounds were still too fresh to be reopened too deeply and too quickly, especially since the children had to recover themselves first. "Now you should sleep first."

"I can't sleep. Julie keeps kicking me." I had to control myself not to laugh as he looked up at me defiantly.

"Okay. Would you like to stay here with me instead?" He nodded briefly before jumping onto the couch with me. I stood up and moved the table away so I could make more room on the couch. I found a thin blanket in the bed drawer and fetched two more pillows from the other end when I saw Nicki already snuggling into my pillow and blanket. It was too bad. Everything smelled like penny. I felt comfortable in the bed linen. Hopefully the thin blanket would give me the same feeling.

I smiled and lay down next to the boy. The first ice was broken. That was something. We would definitely make it the rest of the way. I just hoped that we could find a solution for the children that would make everyone happy and as quickly as possible. We wouldn't be able to hide the children's presence forever and once the youth welfare office got wind of it, we would no longer have a chance of keeping the children here, let alone helping them in any way.

"Sleep well, Nicki," I murmured quietly, but didn't received an answer anymore.

To be continued...